Park Day: Edward Vincent Jr. Park (formerly Centinela Park), Inglewood

This park had an amazing number of mature oak trees! Lots of beautiful sycamores as well.

Happy after a snooze in the stroller.

Good morning. Check out my sexy legs!

Park Day: Playa Vista Central Park

Park Day: Grand Park, Downtown Los Angeles

If you have a kid, I am here to assure you don't have to go to Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles, no matter how many articles Eli Broad plants about it in the L.A. Times. It's very nice, and the bathrooms are unexpectedly spotless, but it's not really a kid park.

That said, if you get jury duty at the Criminal Courts Building any time soon, your lunch breaks for the duration of your tour will be awesome, because the CCB-adjacent Grand Park is a very nice space in which to spend an hour or two. (Oh, and it would be a great spot for a family photo shoot, if you're into that kind of thing. Lots of nice backgrounds and interesting light/landmarks.)

Grand Park is spread out over three blocks that include a very odd, un-unified mishmash of plantings and art--here's a traditional bronze statue of Christopher Columbus, here's a 1960s Bulgarian Brutalist megafountain, here's a eye-shaped metal Metro station escalator overhang, here's a walking tour of botanical evolution as told through civic-space garden beds--but the neon pink chairs and tables actually kind of do pull it all together, and the vistas are quite nice.

ANYWAY...

JUMP! (Los Angeles City Hall and the Criminal Courts building are in the background. This is the middle of the three sections; the smallest one is down next to City Hall. It's got the fancy bathrooms, but is otherwise mostly grass and benches.)

Jackson practices his balance beam exercise. (Gallery of historic American flags in the background, because why not?)

Hugging an agave flower stalk, as you do.

CHEEEEEEEEESE! (This is up in the third section of the park. Grand Avenue is above and behind the fountain, and across Grand Avenue is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and Walt Disney Concert Hall, et al. There's a random free-standing Starbucks next to the fountain, and Jackson loved watching the water spouts while we ate our lunch.)

The landmark DWP headquarters building is in the background.

Lo and behold, the L.A. Opera was holding a little Christmas concert in the park, because downtown Los Angeles is a CULTURAL MECCA. (Or so downtown boosters would have you believe. Really, downtown is just the Legal District of town, but that's OK too.) Jackson wasn't crazy about the music, but he did like running up and down the hill while I chilled and listened to the music. Later he told his dad about the "pee-nano" that was at the park. Hee. :)

Park Day: Culver City Park

Jackson's still too little to climb on this thing, but...GEOMETRY!

Culver City Park is a little park up on a hill near Duquesne and Jefferson on the back end of Culver City, where the studio backlots once stop. Everyone was very nice and it was a fun playspace, but it was a little dirtier than I prefer my parks to be. On the other hand, it's located near a skate park AND a dog park and higher up they have all the Little League ballfields, so there's quite a bit to see while you're there.

Park Day: Augustus F. Hawkins Park

Jackson checking out the nature center.

A kid let Jackson sit on his bike.

"Where ducks go?"

A view of the wetlands area.

Butterfly takes a break.

Sign outside the front gate.

This is the second "natural park" we've visited in the Los Angeles Parks & Rec system, and it's the second one that was a total home run. Just a lovely space. Closes at 4:30 daily, but worth a visit while it's open because it's so nicely planted and kept.

Park Day: UCLA Sculpture Garden

Things are looking up, said the toddler. (Jackson explores the inside of Richard Serra's gargantuan TEUCLA steel sculpture.)

Jackson insisted this was a waterfall not a fountain, and he thought it was fantastic.

This sculpture made of steel girders serves as a fine bench and it was Jackson's favorite sculpture by far. (No one seemed to mind if people touched the art!)

More climbing fun.

Bye mom!

Bonus funtimes: One of the groundskeepers let Jackson help rake up some leaves! 

Overall this was a beautiful spot with lots to see and do (plus some great birds for me!), it was easy to get to from UCLA's P3 pay-by-spot parking structure, and we'll definitely be back in the future.

Park Day: Ken Molloy Harbor Regional Park

This was our park day two weeks ago, but my camera batteries died so just posting this now. Sorry for the delay, grandparents! :)

This is the park where Reggie the Alligator lived his renegade lifestyle for a year or so. His owner-abandoner picked a wonderful place to dump him--the park proper is a vast wetland, and there's a wildlife sanctuary on the far side. Large swaths of this park are quite inaccessible (at least as far as urban parks go), and it's apparently a great spot for birdwatching, but I don't think we'll travel down here again for kiddie times. They have good play equipment and the ducks and geese are a nice bonus, but the driving distance and the scattered trash were a turnoff.

In grand Los Angeles tradition, a scenic view...of the oil refinery. Heh.

Race ya!

Duck duck geese.

Park Day: Exposition Park Rose Garden

Riding the rails with my baby. This is on the new Expo Line. He got another haircut, at the place he loves in Brentwood that has the car chairs. 

He only likes wearing other people's hats.

Obligatory rose vista, seeing as how we are at the Exposition Park Rose Garden.

Naturally I made him stop and smell the roses. Hee.

The Exposition Park Rose Garden is at the back entrance of the California Science Center, which was just recommended to me by Adi's mom. We were there too late in the day to explore it properly, but I loved the museum shop. I hereby declare it Least Useless Cultural Institution Gift Shop in SoCal. The other one I love is the Los Angeles Library Foundation shop at the Central Library downtown. I bought J a poster of animals since that's his never-ending obsession: "Talk about animals!" It really is bizarrely easy to take the Expo Line from our house, so we'll definitely make a trip down to the Science Center again on a day when it's not so hot and when we're able to make an earlier start.

Park Day: Los Angeles County Arboretum

The Los Angeles County Arboretum is the best "formal" garden we've been to so far in Southern California, especially as far as toddlers go. It's more elegant and old-fashioned than South Coast Botanic Garden, and it's much bigger than most municipal botanic or ornamental gardens. 

The Arboretum, which is located in Arcadia across from the Santa Anita Racetrack, may not as sophisticated as the nearby Huntington Gardens in San Marino, but the plantings are gorgeous and impeccably maintained, the atmosphere is warm and kid-friendly, and it's easy to entertain a toddler there for hours. 

We were there on Free Day (third Tuesday of the month) but we'll definitely go back and pay again. I don't, maybe I was just giddy from the high spring of it all, or the perfect weather, but I loved this place. The only downside is the looooong drive from our house, but so it goes! 

Kid is getting too big for the stroller! Here he's getting his first look at a real live Canada goose.

The most famous attraction at the Arboretum is their peacock flock. They are terrible screamers, and on some level they just look like colorful turkeys, but they're a sensory experience not to missed. During mating season, from April to August, the males are most likely to show off their tail feathers, but we didn't see any displays. Still, the noise and the overall spectacle of these birds is not to be missed.

Speaking of spectacles, the kid likes to show off when I offer him a flower to sniff. This is Mexican marigold.

"I push! I push it!"

Turtle! A maintenance worker passed by as we were hanging out with this little fellow and he said she was probably actually a lady turtle looking for a good place to lay her eggs for the season.

"Turtle pee on road? Turtle pee on road? Turtle pee on road? Turtle pee on road? Turtle pee on road?"

Canada goslings!

Happy little boy inside the historic Santa Anita Depot, which is a side trip (quite literally off a side path that leads out of the main grounds) from the Arboretum. According to the docents, all the historic rickrack inside is not original in the least but was donated to the facility by various film studios that use the garden for filming. LOL, that's life in L.A. for you.

Park Day: F.E. Hopkins Wilderness Park, Redondo Beach

Jackson and fellow tots enjoy feeding the koi at the upper pond, right near the entrance.

When I saw him running down this little path these lyrics came to mind: "Little bunny foo-foo, hopping through the forest..."

Washing his pine cone in the drinking fountain, as you do.

The little babbling brook at this park is the best one I've encountered in L.A. Very fast-moving and naturalistic. We walked across a fallen-log bridge together.

Lower pond: Lots more ducks and turtles. More turbid water. Scary catfish things. At both ponds, they sell .25 handfuls of fish food out of repurposed gumball machines. Bring quarters.

F.E. Hopkins Wilderness Park sign: This little park is completely surrounded by apartment buildings and so forth, and the "wildnerness" consists mainly of unmown grass, but you can camp overnight with a permit. Gas barbecues, sinks and real bathrooms are available for campers.) If nothing else, it's a sweet little forested escape in the big city. They also seem to host (if not organize/manage) classes for little kids in a small classroom space toward the front. Very walkable with little dudes, and feeding the fish was a lot of fun.